Continuing the Osprey Saga

Dear Bay Weekly:

The Cape Henlopen Hawk Watch [http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=169] has had a couple of days with counts over 100, so the young and males are now moving south. Most of the females have probably already made it through to South America.

Three of our [tagged] birds are moving. Actually four if we include Buck, our South Carolina young from ’09, who surprised us by moving his bivouac down in Venezuela.

Sr. Bones from Nantucket is our first adult to head south. Thatch from Delaware is the first young to take the plunge. Belle’s move north early in the month was a false alarm.

On the migration webpage (www.bioweb.uncc.edu/Bierregaard/migration10.htm), I’ve indicated for each bird when the latest updates were posted for their maps. Especially interesting this time around are Penelope (always doing something exciting) and Thatch.

–Rob Bierregaard: Biology Dept., UNC-Charlotte

Editor’s note: Michael Koblos’ Osprey Sage ended its 26-week run in Bay Weekly last week, and migration is underway. Osprey-transmitter-tagger Rob Bierregaard updates us on where osprey go after they leave the nest.